Ackert: Joe McEwing, a mentor for David Wright, says Mets captain’s comeback is ‘the bravest thing I have seen a player do’

September 29, 2018

That July night 14 years ago, Joe McEwing knew what he had to do. He’d made a few jokes at the expense of the Mets’ first-round pick the first day they met and they immediately became close friends. Now David Wright was in New York on July 20, 2004, nervous and anxious about making his major league debut the next day.

“He was always so full of questions, he wanted to learn everything he could from the first time I met him,” McEwing said this week from Chicago, where he is the bench coach for the White Sox now. “That night, he’d called and asked ‘When do I get to the ballpark?’ ‘Where do I go when I get there?’ ‘Who do I talk to?’ and just a hundred other questions.”

David Wright has not played since 2016, but he is set to take a pinch hit at-bat Friday night. (Mark J. Terrill / AP)

So McEwing grabbed the rising young star and took him to a local pub for a quick dinner and to answer his questions. Before the night was over, however, McEwing offered one last piece of advice.

“I told him to breathe before he went out on the field. I told him to take a deep breath, look around and take it all in. Remember the sights, the sounds and the feelings,” McEwing said. “You only get this chance once.”

Friday, McEwing left a text message for Wright. The message was the same.

Fourteen years and over 1,500 games later, Wright is wrapping up a career that has been both brilliant and heartbreaking. After nearly two years of battling back from spinal stenosis, back, shoulder and neck surgery, Wright was scheduled to pinch hit in Friday night’s game against the Marlins, his first appearance in a game since May 2016. Then he will start and play a few innings on Saturday, the last game of his career because of those injuries.

“I am so proud of him,” McEwing said. “What he did in his career was amazing, but the way he has worked to get back for one game, so his daughters can see him play, is the bravest thing I have seen a player do. These last two years have been frustrating for him, but I am so proud of how he worked and how he made it back. That’s special.”

Joe McEwing is telling David Wright the same thing he told him as a rookie: Just breathe. (RUSTY KENNEDY / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The promise of that young prospect McEwing mentored back in 2014 did blossom into an exceptional player. A seven-time All-Star, Wright is a .296 career hitter with 242 home runs with 970 RBI. While he never won a title here, getting to the World Series just once, Wright will be remembered as one of the most important players in this organization’s history.

And he will be remembered for how he did it through the highs early in his career, the lows of the Mets’ financial issues and the brave ending.

“It’s been like watching a 15-round boxing match,” said Todd Zeile, Wright’s friend and teammate from 2004. “He’s battled and keeps getting up, but it’s harder and harder to get out of the corner. Most guys would have walked away, but the same thing that made him such a great player is probably what has gotten him through this and to this point. He just loves to play the game. You can see the joy when he plays.”

That love and joy of the game is as obvious this weekend — when he’ll have to go through two and a half hours of individual back work just to loosen up enough to get on the field — as it was when he wandered around hugging teammates and family at Wrigley Field the night the Mets won the 2015 National League Championship Series. It was evident in the way he did every publicity event to make the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field special and the way he took time last month to quietly visit with the family of Marie DeBenedettis of Mama’s of Corona after her sudden death.

“It’s been like watching a 15-round boxing match.”

Todd Zeile on David Wright’s comeback

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“That is what made him special,” McEwing said. “He had all the talent in the world, but what made David special is that he never changed. He was always the same kid who wanted to learn and treated everyone — teammates, fans, security guards, clubbies, ticket takers — all the same. He’s just a special person.”

Saturday night, McEwing will be in Minnesota finishing up his season, but he will be on the video board at Citi Field giving Wright the same advice he did 14 years ago.

“I want him to breathe and take it all in,” McEwing said. “He earned and deserved every second of this.”